The climbing Legend Norbert
Joos summited Makalu in 2002 for his 11th 8000 meter
peak. In 2004, he summited Lhotse for number 12. Norbert Joos and Erhard Loretan were the first to summit
Annapurna via the
east ridge. This year he takes on
Kangchenjunga!

Update: Climbers have now been up to Camp 2.

2005
International Kangchenjunga Expedition - 50 years after the first ascent.

Report from
Norbert Joos

Norbert and
Wendi, both from Switzerland share a climbing permit with an international
team. Two other team members are Araceli Segarra and Héctor Ponce de León.

3. and 4.
April: Today we start our journey to the big mountain. Renate brings me and
Wendi to Zurich airport for the Qatar Airways flight via Doha to the capital
of Nepal, Kathmandu. After an unplanned stop at Dehli we arrive in Kathmandu
with four hours delay. We are welcomed by Jangbu who brings us to the
beautiful Yak & Yeti hotel. The flight was long so we relax the rest of the
day.

5. April:
We meet Miss Hawley at 9 AM sharp. As always she wants to know all the details
of the team, but she also informs us about other expeditions in Nepal. All our
porters and Sherpa staff are already on their way to Taplejung in east Nepal.
Today I have only to collect my own personal gear. In the afternoon we visit
the Ministry of Tourism where we have the official Expedition briefing.

6. April:
We get up late because all preparations are already done. This last day in
Kathmandu is to relax and to see some cultural highlights.

7. April:
An early rise to catch the flight from Kathmandu to Suketar. Jangbu picks us
up with the bus at 6 AM and we drive to the airport. All the baggage items are
weighted and put in the aircraft. After three hours of waiting we get the
announcement that the flight is cancelled because the weather is too bad. With
our luggage we go back to the hotel. Hopefully we have better weather
tomorrow.

8. April:
Today we have good weather. After only 40 minutes we land in Suketar (2200
meter) on a beautiful but rather short grass-strip. Our Sherpa's and porters
are welcoming us and carry our luggage to the nearby lodge. From here we can
see the summit of Kangchenjunga, miles away. It looks like the mountain wants
to greet us, a good sign. Jetta and our cook have already prepared the first
lunch before we move on to the camp site at Lhali Kharka. It takes us two
hours to reach Lhali Kharka where we spend the first night in a very simple
lodge.

9. to 11.
April: The next three days we hike trough a typical Nepali hillside landscape,
with many up and downhill tracks. Our goal is the last "real” village before
the Yalung valley, Sherpa Gaon at 2200 meters.

12. April:
Today we go to the campsite at Tortung (3000 meters) in the Yalung valley.
Therefore we have to cross the 3310 meter high col Banite Banijang. It is a
hard job for our 90 porters and the last porter arrives late at night.

13. April:
Today we hike through beautiful forest in the Yalung valley to Tsheram at 3800
meters.

14. April:
After a short hike we arrive in Ramche at 4500 m. Here we exchange some of our
"lowland" porters for porters from Ghunsa which are more adapted to high
altitude.

15. April:
We leave from Ramche after 9AM because the next campsite will be on the Yalung
glacier. One hour later, at Oktang, we have stunning views on the entire
Kangchenjunga massif. This mountain is really huge! From Oktang it goes down
to the glacier which is covered with rocks. The next two days we hike over the
glacier until we reach the basecamp hill. The night on the glacier is very
hard for our porters. Luckily the weather is good.

16. April:
The Yalung glacier seems endless, but after climbing the steep hill we reach
basecamp (5500 meter) in the afternoon. The long hike to this basecamp should
not be underestimated and we are lucky it only took us 9 days. The following
days we will use for acclimatization and relaxing.

17. April:
The first day in basecamp. We are still a little tired and have the normal
small problems with high altitude.

18. April:
We try to make a nice and comfortable place of basecamp as far as it goes.

19. April:
In the middle of the night our Sherpa's wake us up. Pasan is seriously ill and
has fainted twice already. I ask Hector and Araceli for help. They give him an
injection with dexamethason which will help him to survive the night. At dawn
I call Jangbu with my sat phone and ask him to send a helicopter as soon as
possible. At about 10 AM the big MI 17 helicopter lands near basecamp, picks
up Passang and returns to Kathmandu. We are all relieved that he is safe now
and we hope that he will recover soon. After this serious incident we have the
prayer ceremony. We put the prayer flags in the wind and we hope they will
bring good luck for the ascent of Kangchenjunga. The rest of the day we sort
out the gear for tomorrow, when we will climb to camp 1 (6200

meter) for
the first time.

20. April:
At 7 AM the sun rises, time to wake up. About one hour later I, Wendi and our
three Sherpa’s depart from BC to make the route to camp 1. We put fixed ropes
on places were we consider them necessary. In the afternoon the weather turns,
bad but almost all of us reach the shoulder where camp 1 will be located. We
descent in a snowstorm to BC. We are happy we have opened the route to camp 1,
and therefore we have a rest day tomorrow.

21. April:
Rest day in BC. We sort out the gear for the next days when we go to Camp 2.

Kind
regards, Norbert Joos

Millet One
Sport Everest Boot Expedition and mountaineering boot for high altitude
and extremely cold conditions. The Everest has conquered all 14
mountains over 8,000m and also the Seven Summits- and has now had a
makeover to ensure continued peak preformance. With a newer sung, Alpine
Fit, and even lighter Expedition footwear for
mountaineering in conditions of extreme cold. NOTE US
SIZES LISTED. See more here.